I began both of my last two speeches holding a nerf football, asking the question of those in the audience, what it was an NFL quarterback did before he snapped the football. It took a couple of minutes each time, but among the answers were the following:
- Listened for the play;
- Remembered the play;
- Communicated the play to his teammates;
- Assessed the defense;
- Made a rapid decision, based upon that assessment to use the called play or to audible to another play;
- Snapped the ball; and
- Executed the play, requiring instant judgment and reaction in the face of extreme stress of large bodies trying to dismember him.
To complete the play from start to finish requires an immense ability to process, remember and use information. Clearly, someone cannot be confused and do all of those things, and particularly, do them in a series of plays, a game.
Yet, there is really no question that a quarterback can do all of those things, win the game, yet be amnestic for all or a portion of the game. The anecdotal evidence of such occurrences are numerous and undisputed.
How could this be true? Amnesia and confusion are not the same.
More on this in our next few blogs.
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